1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a user interface for mobile devices and more particularly, to a device, computer program and method for controlling the user interface for mobile devices according to a distance between a user's body and the mobile device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist many kinds of mobile devices such as a mobile phone, an MP3 player, a PMP (portable multimedia player), a notebook, a PDA, etc. These devices, however, have limited user interfaces for users to input or output data due to the feature of portability. These mobile devices are usually used while the user is moving with the devices. Also, the size of the mobile device is relatively small.
As such, it is improper to employ general I/O devices in these mobile devices which are devised for fixed devices such as a QWERTY key board, a mouse, or a remote control, which is devised for a desktop computer, large size TV, etc.
As a result, different kinds of user interfaces have been devised and widely used for the mobile devices such as a touch pad, a touch screen, a navigation pad, etc.
Nevertheless, conventional mobile devices may still be limited for the users to input and output data in a desired manner and to provide convenience to the users.
Moreover, in case of mobile phones, there is a tendency toward adding many kinds of annexed functions to the mobile phones such as an MP3 player, a camera, an internet browser, an image viewer, a video player, etc.
Users can control all the functions annexed in the mobile phones by selecting stepwise icons provided on menus. But the users have to go through the top down menus every time the user selects menus stepwise and this causes inconvenience to the users.
For example, a mobile phone is kept close to the user's face while the user is talking on the phone except in a speaker phone mode. However, it is often required for the user to use key buttons even while talking on the phone, such as to search for telephone numbers stored in the phones while talking on the phone or to use ARS (automatic response system) services where the users are asked to input their SSN or password, etc. If the user takes the phone away from his face to push the buttons, he cannot hear or misses the message from the speaker.
Some mobile phones provide so called ‘speaker phone mode’ where the volume is turned up high. However, in such phones, the user must push at least one specific key button to enter the speaker phone mode.
Users often need to push buttons on the mobile devices even when they cannot easily do so, e.g., because the user is on the phone. If it is possible to detect various situations of the user and the mobile device and automatically change the operation mode or user interfaces according to the situations without any input from the user, it would bring much convenience to the users in using the mobile devices.